Once on the highway to Kungsör, we decided we would stop in some of the towns along the way. It seems every town has a "centrum" - a sort of town center, where there are shops and parks. The time of day was favorable for this shot in Ludvika:

Ludvika, Sweden

One question we began to ask ourselves, however, is this: why are all the buildings in Sweden the same colors? Red, yellow, green, beige. We would soon find out; more on that later...

A little more south on highway 50 brought us to the mining town of Grängesberg, where this large, impressive sculpture stands along the highway in tribute to the town's industry:

Grängesberg, Sweden

Driving the highways of Sweden is actually very relaxing. There is little traffic, no billboards, the power lines are underground and the scenery is tranquil and serene. There is an awful lot of room to think on those roads. Nonetheless, Monika and I decided to get off the highway and see what we could find along the dirt roads and meadows. Postcard views awaited us, as we stopped the car to wander out into fields and along streams.

Löa, Sweden

A word about this type of wandering. In Sweden there is a law called "Allemansrätten" which means roughly "every man's right" to public access. It means that everyone has the right to enjoy the land, with few exceptions. You can walk into a field, swim in a lake, etc. as you like. While we didn't try to saunter up into anyone's backyard or anything, we were pleased to see that noone paid us much mind as we explored the landscape.

Löa, Sweden

Löa, Sweden

As we prepared to head back to the highway for the last half of our drive to Kungsör, we ran across a giant coffee cup sitting in a field. We looked around, wondering if there was a store we missed, or some other sign that this object was related to anything we were seeing. Nope - completely random.